


Block

by Fangirlwriting



Series: Creative Trade [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Come on Roman it's Obvious What's Going On, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Being an Idiot, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders is a Good Friend, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Angst, Gen, You And Virgil Are Both Stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:56:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27560377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlwriting/pseuds/Fangirlwriting
Summary: Roman's ship ride is interrupted by his brother.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Creative Trade [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991227
Comments: 7
Kudos: 34





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Roman loved his job. Being creativity. Or part of it. Sure, no one ever appreciated it. Or… knew that he did it, really, except for Janus and Virgil. But most of the time they felt like enough anyway, and Thomas not knowing anything about his work took all the pressure off.

Roman knew, more or less, that his brother didn’t like being creativity. He had spent time with Remus before when he had just wanted to complain about how exhausting Logan and Patton were. His brother seemed to have a different outlook on creativity than he did, and most things involving creating something seemed to take an effort for him that they never did for Roman. He hoped Remus could at least still appreciate the effort when he finished a story or brainstorming session. Coming up with the idea and later finishing it were Roman’s two favorite parts of creating.

He wasn’t expecting Remus to show up on this particular day, but he didn’t necessarily have any objections when he heard a battle cry and the sound of his sail ripping. He turned to face it, and was not all surprised to see Remus sliding down it using a morningstar.

“I,” he proclaimed as he landed hard on the deck of the pirate ship. “Quit.”

“Oh gee, again?” Roman said, raising an eyebrow. “Do Logan and Patton ever get annoyed about your constant flip-flopping?”

“How do you… you know,” Remus gestured wildly around them. “Make the things appear?”

“Ah, still having issues with your side of the imagination?” Roman said, summoning a pair of wings and a giant needle and thread in order to fly up and fix the tear in the sail.

“Logan would love it! It’s a completely blank void now.”

Roman finished with the sail much faster than anyone could have in real life and turned a concerned gaze down at his brother.

“It’s never been a blank void before,” he said, sending the wings out of existence and dropping onto the deck. “Is something wrong?”

“How do you do it?” Remus collapsed back onto the deck and turned a desperate look up to Roman. “I don’t understand, how do you do it? How do you have motivation to do anything ever?”

“I… don’t know what to tell you,” Roman said, sitting down on the deck next to Remus. “It’s just there. You’re just passionate about creating something and you… do it.”

“So why are Deceit and Anxiety better at coming up with stuff than Logan and Patton are?” Remus grumbled.

Roman’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“I just… sometimes I just… want to make them mad. Like, kill Joan right in front of Patton or something. Or like, maybe a cat. Patton likes cats. I want Patton to see a cat die.”

“Wow, you really are pissed, aren’t you?” Roman said. For all of Remus’ insane ranting and ravings, it wasn’t often they were directed at a person specifically. He wondered what Patton had done this time. He could understand how Patton would be disturbed seeing a cat die. Roman had just spent too much of his life with Janus and Virgil to be bothered by anything macabre anymore.

“I can’t do it anymore,” Remus said, throwing an arm over his eyes in what was probably him being a little bit a drama queen. “I know I say that a lot Ro-ro, but I really can’t this time. If I have to write one more lesson plan I’ll—  I’ll —”

“Kill a cat in front of Patton?” Roman said, smiling a little. “If you don’t want to write another lesson plan just don’t.”

“But then Logan will complain, and Patton will give me his disappointed look that makes me want to punch him.”

“Oh, fuck them then. Who likes Logan and Patton anyway?”

Remus snorted. “No one,” he said with a nod of confirmation.

“Exactly. Just don’t write the lesson plans if you don’t want to.”

The two of them had had this conversation before. Lesson planning seemed to be the bane of Remus’ existence. And while Roman wasn’t quite sure why Logan couldn’t do it himself and just let Remus focus on the rest of his job, all three of them seemed insistent for some reason that Remus had to do the lesson planning. It didn’t exactly seem like a job for creativity.

Remus smiled just a little at Roman’s comment, but it faded a second later. “But Ro-ro,” he said. “It’s the only thing I ever get to do.”

Roman gave Remus another baffled look. “What are you talking about?”

“If I don’t do the lesson planning, that just means I have to sit around all day,” Remus said. “And that sounds worse.”

“Remus, I know making stuff can be harder for you,” Roman said. “But it really does feel rewarding to finish something you’re proud of. You should try it sometime.”

Now, apparently, it was Remus’ turn to give Roman a baffled look. “You were the one who just told me to  _ not _ do the lesson plans!”

“Wha— yeah. Don’t do the lesson plans if you don’t want to. Do something you can be proud of.”

“Well, which one?” Remus exclaimed, looking up at him in irritation. “I can’t do both!”

“What— I don’t understand. Where am I losing you in this?”

“Remus!”

Remus seemed to go from irritated to exhausted in less than a second. Roman looked up and across the ship to see Patton standing there.

“What are you doing here?” Patton asked. “Since when do you talk to the Prince?”

Remus sat up and leaned back on his hands. “I dunno, since we were teenagers or so?”

Patton’s eyes widened. “Remus! What— you— he’s a  _ dark side!” _

“Why, because I don’t agree with you all the time?” Roman asked casually, leaning back against the pole behind him. “Leave him alone, Pat, we were just talking.”

“You can’t—” Patton took a deep breath and seemed to calm himself down. “Be that as it may,” he continued. “Remus was asked to make a lesson plan. He needs to do that first.”

“He’s his own side with his ability to make his own choices,” Roman said, crossing his arms.

“I never said he wasn’t,” Patton replied. “But when we ask him to do something, it is polite to—”

“I get it!” Remus snapped, glaring over at Patton. “I’ll go stare at a notebook for another three hours until I make your stupid lesson plan!” He sunk out before Roman could say anything else.

“That’s going to cause burnout,” Roman said instantly, turning back to Patton before he could follow Remus. “You can’t let Logan take over the lesson planning?”

Patton gave Roman a confused look. “Logan has enough on his plate,” he said, and he sunk out.

Roman shook his head. “Fucking light sides,” he grumbled, summoning a door back to the mindscape.

Virgil was sprawled over the couch as he walked back into the living room. He glanced over at Roman and must have noticed something in his face, because he set his phone down. “What monster killed you this time?”

“What?”

“You look how you look when one of your imaginary monsters kills you. Was it the dragon witch again?”

“The dragon witch is dead, Virgil. I killed her. She will never return,” Roman said, looking ahead determinedly at the wall as he did so. He turned back to Virgil. “I just had a visit from Remus and Patton.”

“Yeesh, yeah, the look makes sense now,” Virgil says, looking back to his phone.

“Remus said something weird,” Roman said. He walked over and sat in the chair set at an angle to the couch.

Virgil looked up again. “Oh, we’re, we’re actually talking about this? Okay.” He set his phone down again and turned to look at Roman. “Weird how?”

“Like… I was talking about how creating comes easier to me than to him, and he asked why you and Janus are better at coming up with stuff than Logan and Patton are, as if you two are the ones doing my job.”

“Woah, hey, I’m not doing your job! I have enough on my plate. You couldn’t make me do your job if you paid me.”

“First, a job is by definition something you do for money, and second, we can’t use money anyway, being manifestations of Thomas’ personality? Ones he doesn’t even know about, on top of that.”

“Irrelevant. The point remains, I’m not doing your fucking job.”

“I was never asking you to. I’m just wondering what the heck Remus meant.”

Virgil hesitated, and he gave Roman a look. “You don’t think that… Logan and Patton… try to control what he makes or something… right?”

Roman sat back in thought for a moment. “I really hope not,” he said. That would definitely be in keeping with what he knew of Logan and Patton, but… surely even they would understand how harmful that would be to Remus, right?

“Hey, idiots.”

Both Virgil and Roman glanced over to where Janus was looking out from behind the wall of the kitchen. “What do you want for dinner?”

“Uh, yes, I’d like a five course meal,” Virgil said.

“Six courses for me please,” Roman said. “Can you start with a steak?”

“I’m making spaghetti,” Janus said, popping back into the kitchen as two of his extra hands gave them the finger.

“Meatballs!” Roman called.

“We’ll see!”


End file.
